*ESPN doesn't rate JUCOs, so Isaac Fruechte is not included in Minnesota's average.

On to the full data, after the jump:

#1 Michigan - 18 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Royce Jenkins-Stone

LB

MI

4

4

4

4

James Ross

LB

MI

4

4

4

4

Joe Bolden

LB

OH

4

4

4

4

Terry Richardson

CB

MI

4

4

4

4

Erik Magnuson

OL

CA

4

4

4

4

Jarrod Wilson

S

OH

4

4

4

4

Tom Strobel

DE

OH

4

4

3

4

Pharaoh Brown

DE

OH

4

3

3

4

Blake Bars

OL

TN

4

3

3

3

Devin Funchess

TE

MI

3

4

4

4

Mario Ojemudia

DE

MI

3

4

4

3

Kaleb Ringer

LB

OH

3

4

3

3

Matt Godin

DE

MI

3

3

3

4

Ben Braden

OL

MI

3

3

3

3

Anthony Standifer

CB

IL

3

3

3

3

Caleb Stacey

OL

OH

3

3

3

3

Allen Gant

S

OH

3

3

3

3

AJ Williams

TE

OH

3

3

NR

3

Wolverines pick up highly-rated safety Jarrod Wilson. With the most commits and the best average by most services, they have far and away the best class to date.

#2 Notre Dame - 11 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Ronald Darby

CB

MD

4

5

4

4

Tee Shepard

CB

CA

4

5

4

4

Deontay Greenberry

WR

CA

4

4

3

4

Taylor Decker

OL

OH

4

4

3

4

David Perkins

LB

IN

3

4

4

4

Nick Baratti

S

TX

3

4

3

3

Justin Ferguson

WR

FL

3

3

4

3

Mark Harrell

OL

NC

3

3

4

3

CJ Prosise

S

VA

3

3

3

3

John Turner

S

IN

3

3

3

3

Scott Daly

LS

IL

2

NR

NR

NR

No change for the Irish.

#3 Ohio State - 9 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Bri'onte Dunn

RB

OH

4

5

4

4

Joshua Perry

LB

OH

4

4

4

4

Warren Ball

RB

OH

4

4

3

4

De'Van Bogard

S

OH

4

4

3

4

Jacoby Boren

OL

OH

3

3

3

4

Frank Epitropoulos

WR

OH

3

3

3

3

Blake Thomas

TE

OH

3

3

3

3

Tyvis Powell

S

OH

3

3

2

3

Najee Murray

CB

OH

2

3

3

3

Buckeyes pass PSU due to losses by the Nittany Lions, not any gains of their own.

#4 Penn State - 10 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Camren Williams

LB

MA

4

4

4

4

JJ Denman

OL

PA

4

4

4

4

Joey O'Connor

OL

CO

4

3

4

3

Brent Wilkerson

DE

MD

4

3

3

4

Jamil Pollard

DT

NJ

4

3

3

4

Brian Gaia

OL

MD

3

3

4

3

Anthony Stanko

OL

OH

3

3

3

3

Jesse James

TE

PA

3

2

3

3

Derek Dowrey

DT

VA

NR

NR

3

NR

Austin Johnson

OL

NJ

NR

NR

NR

NR

Nittany Lions lose their top-rated commit Jarron Jones, which kills their averages. They're just about even with Wisconsin and Michigan State.

#5 Michigan State - 10 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Se'Von Pittman

DE

OH

4

4

4

4

Benny McGowan

OL

OH

3

3

4

3

Tyler O'Connor

QB

OH

3

3

3

4

Riley Bullough

LB

MI

3

3

3

3

Zach Higgins

OL

OH

3

3

3

3

Jamal Lyles

LB

MI

3

3

3

3

Josiah Price

TE

IN

3

3

3

3

Nick Tompkins

RB

GA

3

3

3

3

Kyle Kerrick

WR

PA

3

3

3

3

Evan Jones

TE

OH

3

3

NR

3

I put Michigan State past Wisconsin since their averages are higher on three services and they have more commits. HOWEVA, once the Badgers' commits are fully ranked, they'll probably fly back ahead of MSU.

#6 Wisconsin - 8 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Dan Voltz

OL

IL

4

4

4

4

Vince Biegel

LB

WI

4

4

4

4

Kyle Dodson

OL

OH

4

4

3

4

Vonte Jackson

RB

WI

4

4

3

4

Bart Houston

QB

CA

3

4

4

4

Hugs Etienne

CB

CA

3

2

NR

NR

Reggie Mitchell

CB

PA

2

NR

NR

NR

Arthur Goldberg

DT

PA

NR

NR

2

NR

Wisconsin pulls up the rear of the 3-way tie on the basis of fewest commits. They're upwardly mobile with a few "NR"s in the table.

#7 Northwestern - 12 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Adam DePietro

OL

PA

3

3

3

3

Dean Lowry

DE

IL

3

3

3

3

Kenton Playko

OL

OH

3

3

3

3

Jack Schwaba

TE

PA

3

3

3

2

Ian Park

OL

PA

3

3

3

NR

Malin Jones

RB

IL

3

3

2

3

Eric Olson

OL

MA

3

2

3

3

Connor Mahoney

OL

PA

2

3

3

NR

Joseph Jones

S

PA

2

2

NR

NR

Dan Vitale

S

IL

NR

2

2

NR

Mike McHugh

WR

PA

NR

NR

NR

NR

Chris Fitzpatrick

OL

KY

NR

NR

NR

NR

There's some disagreement across the recruiting sites (primarily on the part of 24/7 Sports, which you'll see is a bit of a theme) on Northwestern's commit list. Once the new kid on the block gets their act together, the averages will look better.

#8 Indiana - 11 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Nick Mangieri

DE

IL

3

3

3

3

Dan Feeney

OL

IL

3

3

3

3

Jordan Wallace

LB

IN

3

3

3

3

Kevin Davis

WR

IN

3

3

3

3

Mike Cotton

LB

IL

3

3

3

NR

Adam Kranda

TE

IN

3

3

3

3

Jacob Bailey

OL

IN

2

2

3

3

Tanner Kearns

TE

OH

NR

3

2

NR

Alex Todd

OL

OH

NR

2

2

NR

Caleb Cornett

WR

IN

NR

NR

NR

2

Dawson Fletcher

S

OH

NR

NR

NR

NR

Hoosiers picked up steam after a slow start.

#9 Minnesota - 12 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Andre McDonald

WR

MN

4

3

4

3

Isaac Hayes

OL

MN

3

3

4

3

Philip Nelson

QB

MN

3

3

3

3

Dinero Moss

S

FL

3

2

3

3

Dominic Twitty

DT

NJ

3

2

3

3

Drew Davis

LB

NC

2

2

3

NR

Maxx Williams

TE

MN

NR

3

NR

NR

Josh Ballesteros

LB

FL

NR

2

2

2

Scott Ekpe

DT

TX

NR

NR

NR

NR

Isaac Fruechte

WR

MN

NR

2

JC

NR

Eric Murray

CB

WI

2

NR

NR

NR

Mitch Leidner

QB

MN

NR

NR

NR

NR

Minnesota's commit list is totally different across the four recruiting sites. Also, 24/7 Sports hasn't a clue what they're doing.

#10 Nebraska - 5 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Paul Thurston

OL

CO

4

4

4

4

Greg McMullen

DE

OH

4

4

3

4

Michael Rose

LB

MO

3

4

4

4

Jordan Westerkamp

WR

IL

3

4

3

4

Sam Cotton

TE

NE

3

2

3

3

I moved Nebraska down solely because they have so few commits compared to the schools ahead of them. It's likely they'll move up the list as they pick up more prospects.

#11 Iowa - 6 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Jaleel Johnson

DT

IL

4

4

4

4

Maurice Fleming

CB

IL

3

3

4

3

Cameron Wilson

WR

OH

3

3

3

3

Mitch Keppy

OL

IL

3

2

NR

NR

Drew Ott

DE

NE

NR

2

NR

3

Connor Kornbrath

K

WV

NR

NR

2

NR

Hawkeyes light on the commits, but they did pick up a new headliner in Jaleel Johnson.

#12 Illinois - 4 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Tajarvis Fuller

LB

FL

3

3

3

3

Elliot Faerber

WR

KS

3

3

2

NR

Cody Quinn

CB

OH

3

3

NR

3

Jason Robertson

WR

IL

NR

3

3

3

No change for Illinois.

#13 Purdue - 7 Commits

Name

Position

State

Rivals

Scout

ESPN

24/7

Jordan Shine

S

IN

3

3

3

3

Ryan Morris

TE

NJ

3

3

3

3

Austin Appleby

QB

OH

3

3

3

3

BJ Knauf

WR

FL

3

NR

2

NR

Paul Griggs

K

NC

2

NR

3

NR

Thomas Meadows

K

VA

2

NR

NR

NR

Steffon Martin

LB

AZ

NR

NR

NR

NR

Purdue is hurt by having lots of unrated guys, and also two kicking specialists early in the class. They have a commit list that is radically different across recruiting services, as well. Scout is the incompetent premium site in Purdue's case.

You say 24/7 doesn't have a clue what they're doing, but they're ratings don't strike me as being that different from the other services. It seems that there's just a few more guys that they haven't gotten around to rating. I suspect thay by fall they will have most of this sorted out. Also, speaking of 24/7, I know they, along with ESPN rate their players out of 100, while Rivals rates their players out of 6.2 or something weird. I wouldn't mind seeing these averages as well. But thanks, as always Tim! It's good to see just how clearly Michigan is dominating.

It's not as much the rankings (or lack thereof) for specific prospects - that's to be expected. The problems are more along the lines of their not having the first fucking clue about who is committed to certain schools.

On a side note, does anyone else think Ohio State recruited Frank Epitropoulos just for his name? It seems like too much of a coincidence that as soon as Sanzenbacher graduated, they bring this guy in.

It's nice to see how universally the ratings for this class are high. It confirms what we all believe.

As a point of comparison, last year on Scout, USC had a 26 member class with an average of 3.50 and they were ranked fourth overall. Florida State had a 26 member class with an average of 3.65 and they were second overall. And Auburn had a 25 member class with an average of 3.76 and they were number one overall.

It looks like, if we finish with a 26 member class filled with some of the remaining targets on our board, we will be in the top five (assuming our current players remain committed and don't slip in the rankings). What a nice way to start the new regime!

To add onto that, our class could be the number one class on scout according to last years rankings. Our next 8 commits could be: Kalis (5 star), Diamond (5 star), Stanford (4 star), Peyton (4 star), some runningback or fullback (3 star), Washington (5 star), Pipkins/O'brien (4 star), and Wormley (4 star). We would have 26 commits with a star rating of 3.77. This would have been number one last year.

Not only that, but it's possible that guys like Braden, Standifer and/or Pharaoh Brown get a 4th star on Scout since they're pretty close and are guys who seem to be on the up and up. A few guys getting an extra star would make a huge difference in your average as well.

EDIT: To clear up the math: Every extra star a prospect gets raises our star average by .04 for a class of 25.

I don't understand the hate for 247 either, I actually like that site the most at this point.

EDIT: I understand why Tim gets frustrated with 247 because he's calculating averages and it's harder to do that when a site has a handful of unrated guys. However, if you look at who they haven't rated, it's almost always guys that other sites haven't rated either (rarely are they the only site not to rate a guy) and if other sites have rated him, it's usually a 2 star. So it's not like 247 is missing on any of the guys whose rankings are important.

Maybe a NR should go into the system, by default, as a 2 star, since nobody is ranked lower than that, and if they aren't ranked at this point, they won't be more than one star higher than that anyway. That will help preserve the averages for the schools with NR players.

Although I'm used to seeing this by now, could you imagine being say... a Wisconsin fan and comparing these recruiting classes. I would be quite sad. Now that we have our bases covered I'm looking forward to some 4* WRs and top flight recruits like Diamond, Kalis, Wormley, Pipkins, etc. to wrap this class up and put a bow on it.

It depends on the service - Kalis and Diamond are both 5 stars on Scout and many feel good about our chances with those guys. Washington is a longer shot, but still a possibility and he's a 5 star on Scout as well. Bri'onte Dunn also has 5 stars on Scout.

Rivals, OTOH, doesn't give as many 5 stars out at the beginning, and then gives out more as the season goes. Magnuson and Kalis are both on the cusp of 5 stars on Rivals.

I've thought of another way to look at rankings, and I'd be curious to see what the MGoCommunity thinks.

What about aggregating the rankings (by stars) for each service? My inspiration being ESPN and how they rank their fantasy football players each week based on the aggregate rankings of the experts.

For instance, Michigan would have the following ranks, based on the average stars of each commit from each of the seperate services:

Rivals: (1)

Scout: (2)

ESPN: (1)

24/7: (2)

Giving Michigan an average aggregate ranking of 1.5. This would be best in the conferance, with Nebraska a close second with a 1.75 aggregate ranking. This aggregate measure does a good job of measuring recruit quality, but fails to account for class size. But over time, as the class sizes fill, this becomes less of an issue.

Thoughts?

Here's the entirety of the aggregate rankings, with aggregate average in parenthesis:

An even better way to rank the recruits would be on a point system where the number of stars from each service determines the recruit's point value. For instance, Ross would be worth 16 points since he is a 4-start recruit to all services (4+4+4+4), while Strobel would be worth 15 points since he is a 4-star to three services and a 3-star to one (4+4+4+3). This covers the issue of both quality and quantity simultaneously.

There really is a decent chance. To be a top 5 you have to have 5 star prospects. With scout, Kalis, Diamond, and Washington are all 5 stars already. Rivals has Kalis as the highest ranked 4 star in the nation (kind of like Dee Hart was last year until the end), and Magnuson has an outside shot at a fifth star. And the only three stars I see us taking at this point are if we take a FB, a QB, or we strike out on our receiver targets and take a lesser rated one. Good way to start the Hoke years.